Improvement in floting-tongs



\ ing and polishing as the wrought-iron ones.

uitrit gaat HENRY GEREOKE, OF OARLSTADT, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TOHIMSELF, AUGUSTUS GEREGKE, OF SAME PLAGE, AND

JACOB STAHL, OF NEW YORK CITY.

Leners Patent No.103,039, (aaa May 17, 1870.

'IMPROVEMENT IN FLUTING-TONG'S.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of theSame To all whom 'it may concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY GER-norm, of Oarlstadt, inthe county of' Bergenand State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement; inFluting- Tongs; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exa-ct description thereof, which will enable others skilledin the art to make and luse the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing forming part of this specification.

This invegtion relates to improvements in the construction'ofHating-tongs; and consists in making the handles of cast lnetal and' thelingers of wrought or rolled wire, and attaching them tothe ends of thehandles below the pivot-joint by screwing or otherwise fastening theminto holes in the ends of the handles, as hereinafter more fullyspecified.

Flirting-tongs made entirely of wrought iron, as well as entirely ofcast or malleable iron, are old articles of manufacture; but whilehothhave their advantages, they have also their serions disadvantages,which I claim I entirely overcome in my invention, while retaining alltheadvantages ofboth.

'lhe advantage of an Ientirely wrought flirting-tongs is, that it willstand almost any amount otreasonahle strain, while in use, to which 'itmaybe subjected. Its disadvantage is ,the large amount of 'manual laborre quired in its production, as all the various parts must be forged byhand, which forging, giving the iron a very rough surface, requires aconsiderable amount of grinding and polishing `in order to give it therequisite smoothness to answer for the purpose intended.

lhe advantage of malleable iron iluting-ton.gs, on the other hand, isthat it dispenses entirely with forging, all the various partsbeing castin the proper shape. Yet its disadvantages are obvious, namely, that theprongs being thin, the heat of the furnace twists them into everypossible shape, which requires skilled labor to straighten. YVhile,being cast, they have a rough surface, and require fully as much grind-The main disadvantage, however, of the malleable one is, that the metal,being very coarse grained, and' its particles not being very firmlyunited, as soon as the thin prongs are subjected to any considerablestrain they are apt to break olf, and consequently render the tongsworthless. i

In my tluting-tongs the handles are made of Vmallea-v ble iron andpretty thick, so that the heat of the furnace does not materially affectthem. Into the heads wire of which the prongs are made is already drawnperfectly smooth. Thus it will be seen that I secure the advantages ofboth, while I overcome Vall their disadvantages, and am able to producethem at fully one-third less expense than either of the others.

Another great advantage of my tongs over any other is, that the prongscan be replaced whenever they should happen to get burnt, whichfrequently happens from being heated. l

The ordinary tongs are constructed in an entirely different manner' frommine. Their handles and iin gers are cast in one picco, the fingersbeing merely faced with a thin strip of .steel in order to give them acutting-edge. I

.lhe drawing represents an elevation of mynnproved tlnting-tongs, a partheilig sectional, to show the mannerot' attaching the iingers.

It is important to have the fingers made of iron or steel wire,whichdocs not become ronghened hy the action of the heat as thecast-metal lingers do. I therefore propose to make the fingers ofwrought or "rolled wire and the handles of cast n'ietal, and attach themtogether by inserting the ends of the fingers in holes in the ends ofthehandles below the pivot joint, and secure them by screwing or otherwisefastening them in the said holes.

I make the handles or p arts made by casting to comprise the joint,and'to extend snfiiciently beyond the joint for the connection of thefingers.

A represents the handles, and B the fingers. Two of the lingers areattached in the end of one part A,

and one in the end of the other part.

Having thus described my invention, YI vclaim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent` As an article of manufacture, flutingtongs,having cast handles and rolled-wire fingers screwed therein below thepivot-joint, as shown and described.

HENRY GEREGKE. Witnesses PETER Dieren, Jr., Gao. L. PLATT.

